Builds 78 body off restore (cruiser #2)
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Curtice
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- Thread starter
- #343
After I got the body on, first order of business (and longest order) was electrical work. I will never be able to post enough here to detail how much work this was. I'll try to hit the highlights. I needed to figure out how wire and integrate together:
- FJ40 cowl harness
- FJ80/3FE engine harness
- Aux fuse box for some additional wiring and expansion for potential later additions
- Dakota Digital gauges
- Old Air AC/Heater
- I elected to use modern fuses in place of fusible links
One flaw I have is always biting off more than I can chew...Looking back I should have kept things much simpler, but oh well. Here now.
First thing I did was label every wire in the engine and cowl harnesses. Then cut out whatever I didn't need. A few pics of the fun:
I posted this earlier, but I studied and studied the wiring diagrams until I understood exactly what was happening with every circuit.
I put new connectors for every part...couple examples:
- FJ40 cowl harness
- FJ80/3FE engine harness
- Aux fuse box for some additional wiring and expansion for potential later additions
- Dakota Digital gauges
- Old Air AC/Heater
- I elected to use modern fuses in place of fusible links
One flaw I have is always biting off more than I can chew...Looking back I should have kept things much simpler, but oh well. Here now.
First thing I did was label every wire in the engine and cowl harnesses. Then cut out whatever I didn't need. A few pics of the fun:
I posted this earlier, but I studied and studied the wiring diagrams until I understood exactly what was happening with every circuit.
I put new connectors for every part...couple examples:
Curtice
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- Thread starter
- #344
ok, I was going to post all the gory details of what I did electrical, but its just too much. I'll just put a few pics of what I ultimately ended up with.
- I put the aux fuse/relay panel in the glove box
- the new battery fuses I mounted to a plate I built onto the firewall.
- As I discussed earlier in the thread, I mounted the ECU in the cab, but cut out a hole in the firewall to access it from the engine bay. I mounted a stainless box over it that I can open and get to the ECU easily to troubleshoot.
- All engine wiring is wrapped in Painless braided sleeves
If anyone wants the exact detail of the wiring, my power schematics, how I did EFI and other 3FE related wiring into the FJ40, I am happy to answer questions and give specific details. Some pics of those things I mentioned above:
- I put the aux fuse/relay panel in the glove box
- the new battery fuses I mounted to a plate I built onto the firewall.
- As I discussed earlier in the thread, I mounted the ECU in the cab, but cut out a hole in the firewall to access it from the engine bay. I mounted a stainless box over it that I can open and get to the ECU easily to troubleshoot.
- All engine wiring is wrapped in Painless braided sleeves
If anyone wants the exact detail of the wiring, my power schematics, how I did EFI and other 3FE related wiring into the FJ40, I am happy to answer questions and give specific details. Some pics of those things I mentioned above:
I am pretty sure that wiring would end me, via blood loss from slitting my wrists
RodrigzCrzr
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What a great idea to blow up the schematics of your wiring and attach to the wall. 
Curtice
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- #349
Put the sound deadener on the fuel tank and painted
Plastic dip brake line clamps
New Rainman brake lines:
Restored alternator courtesy of FJ60Cam with Mosley Motors (also supplied me with my in tank fuel pump)
Getting these letters white again was super hard...Its not perfect but looks much better than it did.
Plastic dip brake line clamps
New Rainman brake lines:
Restored alternator courtesy of FJ60Cam with Mosley Motors (also supplied me with my in tank fuel pump)
Getting these letters white again was super hard...Its not perfect but looks much better than it did.
Curtice
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- Thread starter
- #350
I am pretty sure that wiring would end me, via blood loss from slitting my wrists
I was pretty worried for a while - one that it would work, and two that I would have a ton of wiring looms branches all over the place. But in the end it all ended up well and looks pretty clean. I need to get a better picture of the engine in the bay after it is all done Everything works so far, but I have not yet started the engine...so hopefully that all works well when I do.
Curtice
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- Thread starter
- #352
OK, paint. I painted the tub at a friends professional paint booth, but I wanted to do all the other stuff in my garage. So I built a temporary paint booth out of a 12x12 canopy and plastic walls. I added some fans and filters for air flow. It works pretty well, but still hard to keep all of the little dust particle out of the air, so on most of the pieces I have painted, I have had to cut and buff to fix things.
Curtice
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- Thread starter
- #354
Painting was pretty difficult to get the hang of. I was getting orange peel pretty bad and/or the paint was going on dry. After some instruction from my buddy, I realized I was not hold the gun exactly 90 degree and I was moving too fast. Just those two little fixes and the stuff I painted looked a lot better. Some pics of painting:
On the hood, you can see some of the imperfections:
close up of the stuff that fell on the hood:
These parts turned out pretty well:
On the hood, you can see some of the imperfections:
close up of the stuff that fell on the hood:
These parts turned out pretty well:
Curtice
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- Thread starter
- #356
That sort of gets caught up...I obviously didn't get to document even close to what I have been working on since I last posted over 6 months ago. I need to be better.
Next big thing is fire up the engine...hope to do that in the next couple of weeks sometime. Working on getting it driveable now (brakes, etc.) in preparation for that.
I'm super nervous to start it up...so worried that one of a thousand things could go wrong. I'm pretty confident on the wiring, and I know all the right stuff has power, but man its nerve wracking to think about. What if I didn't do something right when putting the engine together? What if I didn't tighten some bolt on accident and things go drastically wrong? What if oil leaks everywhere. lol...all part of the fun I guess.
Next big thing is fire up the engine...hope to do that in the next couple of weeks sometime. Working on getting it driveable now (brakes, etc.) in preparation for that.
I'm super nervous to start it up...so worried that one of a thousand things could go wrong. I'm pretty confident on the wiring, and I know all the right stuff has power, but man its nerve wracking to think about. What if I didn't do something right when putting the engine together? What if I didn't tighten some bolt on accident and things go drastically wrong? What if oil leaks everywhere. lol...all part of the fun I guess.
how come i can't find a glimpse of the Mighty 3FE Thermostat Housings Anointing this true piece of JIS mechanical ART .....
i hopefully will have these in the next month or 2 in-hand and ready to answer the need .....
im pretty impressed Curtice , i have not studied this build thread in the past like i have tonight tech and all ........
will u accept this as a HOLIDAYS Gift from Erin & I ?
it would be our privilege and we both would be honored if you had it Affixed with OEM Rivets to your FIRE wall all Period Correct and all
its the very last one we have ,
Curtice
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #360
im pretty impressed Curtice , i have not studied this build thread in the past like i have tonight tech and all ........
will u accept this as a HOLIDAYS Gift from Erin & I ?
it would be our privilege and we both would be honored if you had it Affixed with OEM Rivets to your FIRE wall all Period Correct and all
its the very last one we have ,
View attachment 2879705
Yes! That is so awesome Matt. I’ll send a PM.
